Anuradhapura

The inscription is engraved on a stone slab, which was discovered in October 1926 when the foundation of the western side of the enclosing wall of the Thūpārāma in Anuradhapura was cleared. The slab was set up vertically on the inner face of the foundation such that only about one foot (30.48 cm) of the slab would have been visible above the original ground level. The inscription is a grant issued by king Gajabāhu I (r. c. 113 – c.135 A.D.), who is referred to here by the name of Gamiṇi Abaya, as in many of his other inscriptions. The text tells us that the king granted certain incomes derived from the Goṇagiri-utaviya (a tank or a tract of paddy fields) to the monks of the Raṭaṇa Araba monastery. The royal grant ends after the fourteenth letter of the sixth line where traces of two short vertical strokes used as punctuation marks are seen. The rest of the record is in the nature of a postscript added later – but not far removed in time from the original grant, as there is no appreciable difference in the script – to the effect that the city accountant, whose name is not preserved, gave in exchange the water-revenue of the Nakaravavi tank (Nuwara Wewa).

The inscription of 49 lines is written in the same style and language than the two tablets of Mihintale (IN3030). It was engraved just a few months later than those ones, during the reign of the king Mahinda IV (975-91 A.D.). It records rules for the administration of certain lands and villages. It also contains an important mention of the temple of the Buddha’s ‘Tooth-relic’ (Daḷ-dā-ge), which enabled the identification of this temple, rebuilt by Mahinda IV in the centre of the town, as the ruined site known as the Daḷadā Māligāva, situated south-east of the Thūparāma dāgäba.

The inscription was found near Perimiyankulam or Perumäiyaṉ-kuḷam, “the tank of the great personage”, or Perumäiyāṉa-kuḷam, “the great tank”, situated on the path to Galkaḍawala, one and a half miles north of the Sacred Bōdhi-tree at Anurādhapura. Müller (1883: 27) describes the inscription as “on a flat rock by the side of a hollowed-out cave”. There are many stone pillars near the place, which is north-west of the Laṅkārāmaya. The inscription is on the whole very well preserved. It consists of 4 lines recording a gift of revenue, derived from water supply in Palinakaraka tank in Tihalaka-karisa and in Ketavalika tank at Amanaratana, to a thēra named Majibuka (or -bika) for looking after certain dilapidated buildings at Patnagala belonging to the architect Ayisayi, son of Batakaya, keeper of the royal store.

Abhayagiri vihara, Anuradhapura